


~Fine~

by Firewalkwithme133



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Dark, Angst and Feels, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Demon/Human Relationships, Disturbing Fluff, Domestic Violence, Emotional Manipulation, F/M, Gaslighting, Love, Mental Health Issues, Night Terrors, Police, References to Depression, Secrets, Transformation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:07:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28176633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Firewalkwithme133/pseuds/Firewalkwithme133
Summary: Trapped in a marriage with her alcoholic husband, Rey finds her escape in the woods of her backyard.What she finds there will either save or destroy her.
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Rey, Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey & Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 9
Kudos: 23





	~Fine~

**Author's Note:**

> I had this posted a few months ago, but wanted to make some edits. Enjoy.

****

**3:00PM Friday**

Rey finishes up the rest of her work - though to be fair - she hadn't had a lot lately. 

She works for a local newspaper, writing for the lifestyle column. She sees herself as a modern (and far younger) "Dear Abby," and though it was a far cry from what her original goals had been, at least it paid the bills.

Barely.

Closing her laptop, she looked over at her husband. 

Drool was dripping slowly down his chin as air moved slowly out of his mouth, the echo of his snores filling the room. 

Armitage Hux spent most days (what was she kidding - every day) either tossing and turning in restless sleep or drinking large quantities of beer until he passed out. His new thing was watching documentary TV shows on addiction and mental illness.

How quaint. 

Four years in, Rey was resigned to the monotony of her life. In the beginning, so in love with him it hurt, she fought every battle in his head as if it were her own.

Desperate to escape her own fucked up life with her family, she moved in with Armitage only a month after their first meeting. 

Rey remembers it well. 

She was working at a clothing store in the mall, stuck in an endless cycle of folding clothes and gift wrapping, wondering when her _real_ life would begin. 

Closing her register and grabbing her walkie, she let out a deep sigh. It had been a long day of screaming "Karens" and grouchy old ladies: "Ma'am it really doesn't matter that you no longer want it. You made the purchase five years ago. We no longer carry it, therefore we cannot accept the return. My apologies" and "I'm so sorry. You can't use two coupons by splitting your purchases. One coupon per customer. My apologies."

Four years of undergrad and this was what she had to show for it: thirty hours a week at eight dollars an hour. If it weren't for that tiny hiccup a year ago, she would still be working on her Master's Degree. She was one credit away from graduating. 

One credit.

But when onset manic depression reared its ugly head, there was no stopping it. Four years of endless studying in the library and two years of academic papers and conferences she found herself stuck in a retail store with nothing to show for herself but $100,000 in student loans and utter failure.

Before she could head over to lock the doors he approached. 

"I do hope you don't mind, but I only need to purchase this one thing."

Great. 

She shook her head, "I'm sorry I've already closed my register sir. You'll have to come back tomorrow."

Expecting him to argue, she was surprised when she heard him say, "No problem. So sorry about that."

Well _now_ she felt bad. 

"Nevermind, I'll take care of it." She rang him up and put his things in a bag, escorting him finally to the door. 

He had asked her for her number. What did she have to lose? He seemed like a nice enough guy. A red-head, not usually her type, but handsome in his own way. 

Options were few anyway. Who else would hit on her here but a ninety year old man or a creepy single guy, more interested in her ass than finding a towel he was looking for. 

They began to text, which led to a Facebook add, which led to long night discussions about movies, books, and politics. 

He told her about his work as an architect. Apparently he'd designed some fancy university library, but he really wanted to "bring back mid-century ranch houses with a modern twist."

Only there was a slight problem. He hadn't been employed for a year. Apparently his job just "wasn't doing it for him," and he needed to, "come home and be with family," while he figured things out. He even told her that he couldn't date anyone. He wasn't ready. With no job and no place of his own, how could he? 

So why in the world had she decided to date him? 

Escape. Escape from the misery of living with her parents, right into the arms of love. 

She scoffed internally: _Yeah right. If I had only known......_

They now shared a large house with multiple tenants, all very nice, though keeping to themselves. Unfortunately a few had been privy to her and Hux's frequent arguments, but after a while they must have realized it was the norm. 

They were just the crazy couple that lived on the bottom floor.

Rey was deeply in love with her husband. This really was her first love, though she had dated others before him. 

But then things took a disturbing and heartbreaking turn when one night after Hux had fallen asleep, Rey tip-toed into their living room to grab his laptop and saw an open chatbox with lewd messages from some unknown man. 

Oh how it devastated her. She felt she could have taken it, had it been a woman. At least then she would have somehow been able to compare - but this - how was she supposed to compete with this? How would she ever feel like a “real” woman again? Was she ever going to be good enough?

This tidal wave of emotions hit her non-stop, pushing and pulling in and out of her head until she felt she would drown in them. And honestly she didn't care if she came up for air. 

Because sinking into nothingness sounded good to her. 

Suddenly all of those years of insecurities about not being pretty enough, never having a real boyfriend, not being sane enough to finish school - all compiled into one large snowball that rolled over and over and over again until one day it hurled itself into a wall and exploded. 

And that was when the fight happened. The fight to end all fights. 

She had taken to bringing a bottle of vodka into their bedroom and listening to music, while he spent his time in their living room playing video games. It was the only way they could exist.

Scrolling through Facebook she found the profile of her former best friend, Finn and his husband Poe. They had just posted a whole album full of pictures of their newly adopted son.

She hadn't spoken with them in years. After high school she and Finn drifted apart - for all of the normal reasons. Most people didn't keep their friends from high school anyway.

But seeing this after three shots of vodka and two cocktails, she finally flipped her shit.

Stomping out into the living room she found _him_ , and said:

"You ruined my life. You ruined me. How could you?! How could you do this to me? To us?"

As usual he just stared at her blankly, cheeks tinting with red shame. 

Good.

"Rey I've told you I'm so so sor-"

"No!! I'm fucking fed up with your apologies. You can't take this back. And now I'm stuck with you! Do you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to go on Facebook right now and tell everyone that I know that my husband cheated on me. That he sent nude photos of himself to another man. How would you like _that_?!"

A look of terror hit his face, and he begged, "Rey please please please don't do that. I'm begging you. Do not put that on the internet. You'll humiliate me."

She sneered. "And what do you think you've done to me?!"

Though that was not the meanest thing Rey had ever said to Hux, for some reason it was the thing that finally set him off:

"I've done everything for you! I got you out of that fucking house with that disgusting father of yours! I rescued you from your dumb retail job and helped you get that new one!"

She thought she would burst from the rage that was about to push her into another explosion. 

"Seriously? Seriously?! Fuck you! I take care of us. I work for the money to pay for rent, food, car insurance, _everything_! And what do you do? Nothing!"

If she had seen it coming she would have stayed in that bedroom and locked herself in forever, never leaving. 

In a matter of seconds Hux leapt off of his perch on the couch and slapped her across the face. Hard.

Her eyes began to water at the force of the slap, and then because of the abject despair at being violated. 

Blubbering to herself she walked back into their bedroom and called the police. He followed her there and tried to rip the phone out of her hands unsuccessfully. 

"Help me please! He won't let me talk! Help me help me help me." He yanked the phone out of her hands finally, and threw it into the wall, creating a large hole in the plaster. 

"Stop, please stop Armitage."

Smack. Another hit across the same cheek.

She fell to the floor, falling into a pit of despair. And the other tenants? They must have heard - they were being quite loud.

But none of them came down to check on her. 

Finally she heard the blast of police sirens and saw blinding blue lights - and her husband calmly washing his face with water and straightening his shirt.

"Rey. You will get rid of them. I mean it. If you don't, I promise you. You'll be sorry. Because you have nowhere else to go. And no matter where you go, jail or the hospital: you _will_ have to come back to me. Do it. Or else."

Wiping her tear-stained and swollen cheeks she realized he was right. She would never get out of here. She might as well make the best of it. After all, she didn't want to deal with this every day. Maybe this was just a bad night. After this, they could just be friends, and she could find a way out. 

She stood up shakily and nodded. 

But this wasn't just a bad night. She realized that after he told the police she had a nervous breakdown ("Yes sir, she has a history with depression. She was hospitalized a little over a year ago") and after they handcuffed her for hitting him ("I'm sorry ma'am. He says that you assaulted him. You can fight your case in front of a judge"). 

He was not arrested. Rey did not comprehend this, as there was actually evidence that he hit her, but because she had a history of mental illness, they sided with him. 

Up until that point it was the scariest experience of her life. Being arrested, carted downtown to the holding center. Eventually she was bailed out, and when confronting Hux, he swore he never did it. He probably didn't want to own up to being nice. She half-expected him to leave her there until her hearing.

Getting through this ordeal, Rey had thought they could move on in peace, but she was wrong. And this time it was far worse.

Every night as they had been, they slept separately, she in the bedroom, and he on the living room on the couch. 

But nearly every night in the middle of the night he would run into the bedroom drunk, flick on the lights and scream at her. It was horrifying. He never hit her again, but not knowing when he would do it was far scarier. Especially because he did it sporadically. 

The last time he had done it, she pondered now, was several weeks ago. She was long overdue for a fright. 

That's what she called them. She tried to put a name to the madness that was small as if trying to minimize the trauma that was being inflicted on her. 

*****

She sighed. She imagined it was time to wake him up. He would be antsy to go to the store to pick up his booze. She never argued. She never nagged. She just did what she always did to survive. And fortunately she thought, it didn't feel like surviving anymore. It just felt like an eerie calm. And the eerie calm was far-removed from the hell that had happened shortly after the big fight.

The only thing that had been plaguing her now in place of the frequent frights were the frequent night terrors. Beings running at her in the dark, reaching out with their claws for her. She would run out screaming most every night searching anywhere for any comfort she could find. 

But all she ever found was a passed out husband on the couch. She had to hug herself back to sleep most nights. 

After driving him to the store (she still drove - he had no license), they drove home, her with her candy, and he with his beer.

They sat back down on the couch in a peaceful silence. She got on her phone, and he got on his laptop. 

And the cycle repeated over and over and over.

*****

**9:30PM Friday**

She never told him she was going to bed. It was unspoken at the same time every night. It was like being at the office. Why would you go off and tell your boss you're leaving every day? You just clocked out and left.

She clocked out for the day.

After brushing her teeth and her hair, using the restroom and taking her medicine (medicine that kept her docile enough to continue this charade), she slid into bed. After checking her phone one more time, she turned off her light, laying in the dark, staring up into the ceiling - waiting for what the night would bring her.

*****

**2:00AM Saturday**

"Rey."

"Rey."

"Rey."

Hands in the air, waving around. Whose hands are these? Why is it so dark in here? 

"Rey."

"Rey."

"Rey."

Am I dreaming? What is this? Am I...wait....

"REY!!!!"

Oh God. Oh God it's coming. It's coming. I have to get out of here. Out. Out. Out. Why can't I find the door? Where is it? _Where is it_?

"AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Rey flies into the hallway clutching her heart, which feels like it will beat right out of her chest at any moment. 

She nearly trips over her pajama pants before running into the door frame leading out into the living room.

Once she catches her breath, hand on her chest, she looks over to Hux, and as usual she finds him fast asleep on the couch, drool once again dripping from his mouth. 

The sleep of the dead. 

She wouldn't admit it to anyone else - but she wishes that were the case. 

The bathroom light was on. He must have left it on. God only knows for how long. Hopefully the light bill won't go up and the landlord will leave them alone. Because just two months ago, she had come downstairs to inform them that they needed to pay more, even though Rey knew she couldn't prove it was them- and there are other tenants here too. Why the hell weren't they getting asked? 

Once again she would probably have to shoulder a burden that two people should carry. 

She laid back down, thankful Hux would not be coming in tonight. If he was still sleeping this late in the night, he wouldn't be coming in for any of his "visits."

The glow-in-the-dark planet stickers on her ceiling calmed her. They made her feel like a little girl again. When everything was new - so many possibilities. She wouldn't mind living with her parents and working in retail again. At least then she wouldn't feel so weighed down. 

"Rey."

Great. He must be awake now, needing something or talking to himself. She pulls back her comforter and curses when she steps on something sharp on the floor. 

Oh yeah. A piece of glass from where he had broken another picture frame. 

She threw it under the bed and strolled back into the living room, her vision still a bit blurry. 

Nope. He was dead asleep. 

Huh.

Strange Night. She took a Benadryl and washed it down with an old coke in an attempt to push down any future night terrors. 

*****

**Saturday 10:00AM**

Somehow weekend days were just as routine as the weekdays. Instead of working on her couch, Rey scrolled on her phone - on her couch - and even occasionally laughed at the nonsense her husband would watch on the TV. Usually dumb criminal videos. The longer she listened to it the more she felt her IQ drop, but every now and then it was amusing. And it kept Hux's attention something other than her. 

They had already gone to the grocery store to get supplies - and of course the required 24 pack. She would say she cleaned the house too, but she had long let that go. It used to be a struggle to get him to help out with anything. Once she realized he wasn't going to, she stopped putting in the effort. So they found themselves sitting around paper plates and the occasional cracker or two sitting on the floor (smushed no doubt by one of her feet while running out of her bedroom during a terror). 

It wasn't a trash hole, but it wasn't immaculate either. 

She got up, throwing her phone on the couch, to go to the bathroom. When she came back, Armitage looked at her with stern eyes.

"What the hell is this Rey?"

He held up her phone, showing her a message she had sent to a coworker (Rose - very sweet girl):

**Rose: Hey girl do you want to go out for drinks with us tonight? The football game will be on.**

**Rey: I don't know. I think I have to stay home tonight. Sorry.**

**Rose: ...**

**Rose: Seriously Rey? You always say this. Is it your husband? Is he making you stay home? Honestly I will come over there and kick his ass...**

Shit. She didn't think he would check her phone. He really hadn't in a long time. And most people would read the exchange seeing nothing wrong, but this was not a normal man. Armitage Hux was disturbed - he was insecure and everything was a threat. 

"It's nothing. She just asked me if I wanted to go out, and I said no." 

He nodded. "Interesting. Because it sounds to me like you're telling people that I'm some kind of abusive alcoholic. Is that right?"

She was getting annoyed. Most of the time exchanges like this didn't happen anymore, and when they did, she was always amenable - not knowing what kind of fright she would get that night.

"No Armitage, I haven't told my friends anything about you. Anything bad at all. I just told her that I needed to stay home today. It's not my fault that she typed that."

He stood up. "The hell it isn't." 

He shoved her down onto the floor, and while old Rey would have sobbed her eyes out and ran into the bedroom, new Rey just sat there with her eyes down. Breathe in, breathe out. Wait until it's over.

"Rey do you honestly think I'm going to let you go out like a whore while I stay here at home by myself? You really want me to be alone with my depression and panic attacks?"

She laughed. 

Oops.

She braced herself for a hit, but one didn't come.

Opening her eyes ever so slowly, she saw that he had sat himself back down on the couch, leaning back to chug down another beer. 

Oh. So the punishment would be later. Okay. Cool

*****

**Sunday 1:50AM**

"Wake up. Wake up you stupid bitch!!"

The lights flew on and before Rey could fully realize what was happening a cup of cold water was thrown in her face. 

She started to cry. She had forgotten how awful this was.

"What did I do Armitage? What did I do to deserve this?" She hadn't cried so hard since the night of the big fight.

"What did you do? What did you do? You ruined my life! I told you I had no job, and you forced me to date you anyway. I told you I wanted to buy you our own apartment first, but you wanted to get married anyway. I told you I didn't want you to talk to your damn friends, and you did that anyway. Now I'm going to finally teach you a lesson so I won't have to do this ever again."

Oh but he would. He would never stop "teaching" her. Why? Because being an alcoholic "teacher" means you tend to forget all the lessons you've given. 

But this time he did the unthinkable. She took a sharp breath in when he grabbed her arm with his left hand, and punched her dead in the face with his right. Not like she was a battered woman in some juicy TV drama. 

No.

He hit her like a man would hit another man that had offended him. 

And he did it over and over until she finally stopped trying to fight back. Her face was covered in blood, and her left eye was definitely going to be black in no time. 

He let go of her arm, and she collapsed onto the bed. She was beaten to the sound of her running fan and the faint dialogue of the living room television.

*****

**Sunday 2:30AM**

After waiting for a while - what felt like an eternity - Rey stumbled out of bed and felt around for the doorknob. 

She slowly turned it, and stepped out to find Hux sound asleep with some dumb reality show playing in the background.

The bathroom light was off tonight. She flipped it on and gasped at her face. It was covered in dried blood. She had been too scared to venture out immediately to assess the damage - needing to wait until he was dead asleep. 

Her brain told her to pick up the soap and start scrubbing her face, but her hand wouldn't move. It just stayed there at her hip. Her brain wasn't firing properly, but she didn't think it was the result of the hitting. 

Someone took over her body at that moment. 

She walked out of the bathroom, leaving the light on. 

She passed her husband on the couch. 

She pulled open the back door and walked out into the backyard. 

The grass was tall and felt cool on her feet. There were probably bugs and spiders. Rey didn't care. But Rey didn't feel like she was really the one in control. 

It felt like an invisible tether kept pulling her further and further back into the yard, and suddenly she found herself at the edge of the wood.

The moon was out tonight, nice and full and bright. The stars sparkled their bright light through the treetops. 

She shuffled past the first few trees and could feel hard dirt filling her toes. 

Looking up into that luminous moon she took a breath. She turned her head back down when she heard the voice. 

She knew the voice. It came in every night during the terrors.

"Rey." 

She looked through her bruised eye and saw two deep black, emotionless eyes staring into hers. 

"Hello Little One. I've been waiting."

Rey felt a cold finger slide from the top of her ear across the dried blood on her cheek, down to her chin.

His hair was black and fell past his ears, ending right above his shoulders. His outfit too was strange, black from head to toe.

And his eyes were black too. She had never seen anyone with black eyes before. They were large and round, reminding her of shark eyes: deep, penetrating, and terrifying.

His nose was Romanesque, and his lips were plush. What skin was visible was covered in white scars.

“Who are you?” she asked.

The man smiled, and she could spot the pointy edges of his teeth. They were abnormal.

He tilted his head. “I’m yours, Little One.” 

Rey blinked, feeling more dried blood caked onto her eyelids. “I don’t understand. What do you mean I’m yours? Who are you? And what are you doing out here?” What man would be walking around in the middle of the night in the woods behind someone’s house?

“I’m not a man.”

Was he – reading her thoughts?

“Yes.”

At this she gasped. These must be some kind of vision. Hux must have damaged part of her brain when he hit her.

“No Little One. I’m real.”

No, no: it must be a dream. Maybe Hux had knocked her out, and she was still unconscious. This was just like her night terrors. All she had to do was force herself to wake up, but she didn’t know how. Her nightmares were never this vivid. She could never feel grass on her feet or feel the chill in the air. And she was always confined to her bedroom.

“Rey.”

She jolted. She had heard this voice before.

It was the voice that called out to her every night. She thought she’d dreamed it – or that it was Hux – but this whole time, had it really been – _him_?

“Yes. It was me.”

She whispered, “Who are you? And what do you want from me?”

He appraised her. “I’m here for you.” He spoke as if it should have been obvious.

Growing frustrated, she shook her head. “I don’t understand. You’re not answering my questions. You’re not making any sense. Just leave me alone.” This was not why she came out here. She wanted to hide away for a while. Stare up at the stars in the sky and surround herself in the trees, where she could almost feel herself again. What she was before this disturbing shift in her life. Or maybe to lose herself in the universe. Disconnect from her body and let her spirit float away.

And he wasn’t welcome.

_Just go away._

He shook his head slowly. “I can’t do that. You need me.”

She scoffed. “In what way do I need you? I hardly know who you are or what you want with me.”

“My name is Kylo. I’m here to help you.”

That got her attention. She spoke with hesitation: “To help me?”

He stood there, staring without blinking for what felt like an eternity, and then he said it: “Hux.”

Her eyes were burning, tears threatening to fall. “There’s nothing you can do. I’m trapped.” She hugged herself, slowly turning to make for the house. If he wasn’t going to leave her alone in peace she might as well dive right back into her sad reality.

Kylo reached forward and turned her head back slowly with his finger. “No. There’s nothing _you_ can do Little One. But I can do something.”

A sliver of hope flashed through her, but she didn’t understand. She remembered that he hadn’t answered her question: _“What are you?”_

It was a terrifying sight, seeing him smile.

“No need to worry about that. The next time you hear me call, say my name.”

“And what will happen when I do that?”

He paused. “You’ll see.”

At that he slunk off into the shadows and left her alone.

*****

She had wanted to stay outside a little longer and get lost in herself, but there was no way that she could do that now.

Staying in those woods did not seem safe with Kylo lurking around.

Kylo. What kind of name was that anyway? Rey still couldn’t piece together what he was.

No normal man would be out in the woods at night unless he was up to something. And how did he know her name – and Hux’s name? Could he have been spying on them? Was he one of her neighbors? She really wished she had at least spoken to one of them, but found she had no interest in funneling questions about why her husband was home all day doing nothing. She expected they would have said things like, “Where is your husband to take out the trash? Why do I always see you doing it?” or “You sure do buy a lot of beer!” or “Does your husband ever leave the house?” every time she came outside.

It’s why she isolated herself. Isolation meant protection. She could build a wall around her heart and put on a happy face to prevent being interrogated and demonized for being with him.

Because that’s what people always did. They were always harder on her than her alcoholic husband. Why wasn’t she strong enough? Didn’t she realize she was being codependent? Why won’t she set healthy boundaries?

She had created a fake Facebook account to join a group for spouses of alcoholics, but after a few posts she was pummeled with this crap so much that she decided to leave them.

Women were the _worst_. Especially women that were in her exact same situation.

It was laughable.

Now though, her encounter with Kylo found her feeling a little less alone.

This was assuming she didn’t just have a nervous breakdown or a bad dream and imagined him.

But a little voice told her this wasn’t the case. The constant repetition of her name every night couldn’t have just been in her head.

Only time would tell.


End file.
